The No. 4 ranked Colorado Mesa women's wrestling team will open their season this weekend beginning on Friday evening beginning at 6pm as they host NJCAA No. 4 Snow College and No. 23 Chadron State for the annual Maverick Duals / Fall Brawl in Brownson Arena. They will follow that up with the Maverick Open on Saturday at 9am with roughly 100 wrestlers scheduled to compete in the open.
 
TO THE TOP
Redshirt junior Dalia Garibay is looking to make that slight improvement in her season to get to that top spot. The Brentwood, Calif. native is a two-time National Finalist including a runner-up finish a year ago. She is 46-11 in her career and went 20-2 last year.
 
Garibay begins her quest for the top spot on the podium as the No. 1 ranked wrestler at 155 pounds. She is scheduled to compete on Friday and is a tournament-day decision for the open on Saturday.
 
BOOKENDS
The Mavericks and coach Travis Mercado have been pleased with how the bookend model of the lineup has developed. Jennesis Martinez starts the dual while Jayleen Sekona finishes the dual, giving the Mavericks strength at each end of the lineup.
 
Martinez enters the season at No. 4 in the NWCA Preseason Rankings and has over 50 wins and three All-American awards in her career while Sekona begins the season, like her teammate, ranked No. 4 at 191 pounds. The Anchorage, Alaska product is 47-22 in her career and a two-time All-American.
 
NEWLY RANKED
Erica Schroeder has gained recognition heading into her junior season. The Nuevo, Calif native begins her third collegiate season ranked No. 7 at 143 pounds after qualifying for the past two National Championship Tournaments. Each season, Schroeder fell in the round of 12, one step from All-American status.
 
LAUNCHING THE CONFERENCE
In April, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced it would be sponsoring the sport of women's wrestling marking it as one of only two conferences (Conference of the Carolinas) to do so. The conference will feature Colorado Mesa, Adams State, Chadron State, Texas Woman's, and Simon Fraser as members with each doing a single round robin for duals. They will conclude with the RMAC Tournament on February 3 at a site yet to be determined.
 
Colorado Mesa was the inaugural pick to win the conference in the preseason coaches poll.
 
SCOUTING THE DUALS
Colorado Mesa will take on Snow College in their first dual of the season on Friday evening. Snow is in their second season with a program and are ranked No. 4 in the NJCAA Preseason National Rankings. The Badgers highest ranked wrestler is No. 2 Corrie Williams at 143 pounds, but they boast 13 total ranked wrestlers in the NJCAA poll.
 
The Mavericks will face RMAC foe Chadron State to close out the opening night of action. The Eagles enter the dual ranked No. 23 in the preseason NWCA poll under first-year head coach Taylor Summers who spent the last few seasons as a men's assistant coach at Western Colorado. The Chadron State grad has one wrestler nationally ranked in No. 8 ranked Kamila Montenegro who is scheduled to wrestle at 191 pounds this weekend.
 
WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE OPEN
Currently, 101 wrestlers are scheduled to compete at the Maverick Open on Saturday. The tournament serves as the 'kickoff' to the season tournament and is scheduled to have at minimum full eight-man brackets.
 
Regional foes Texas Women's, Fort Hays State, Adams State, and Chadron State are all scheduled to bring their teams and compete in the open. Snow College and Trinidad State are scheduled to bring teams from the NJCAA level to compete.
 
THE COACHING STAFF
Head coach Travis Mercado is in sixth season in charge of the program and is the only coach the program has ever had. He is 32-15 in dual matches and scored a program best 108 points at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship giving the program a fourth-place finish at the National Meet. He has had 29 All-Americans since starting the program ahead of the 2018-19 season and has had an All-American every season.
 
New this season, the Mavericks added a full-time assistant that most Maverick fans will recognize. Marissa Gallegos enters her first season on the coaching staff and will assist in the day-to-day operation with duties including but not limited to work-out plans, recruiting, and advanced scouting. Gallegos capped her career with an undefeated season and the program's first National Champion.
 
Also, back to help in a volunteer role is Jolynn Harris who spent last season as a diving graduate assistant coach and part-time wrestler at McKendree.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Colorado Mesa will head to the largest women's wrestling tournament in the country when they travel to Marshall, Mo. for the Missouri Valley Open. Over 40 teams and near full 32-man brackets are expected at the tournament from all classifications.
 
COLORADO MESA PROBABLE LINEUP
101: #4 Jennesis Martinez, RJr., Albuquerque, N.M.
109: Adriana Gomez, Fr., Laveen, Ariz. or Elisha Allen, Fr., Arvada, Colo.
116: Kiely Tabaldo, Fr., Sunnyvale, Calif.
123: Hania Halverson, So., Kalispell, Mont.
130: #6 Hailey Chapman, So., Lake Arrowhead, Calif.
136: #5 Holly Beaudoin, RJr., Poulsbo, Wash. or Valerie Glenn, Fr., Gilroy, Calif.
143: #7 Erica Schroeder, Jr., Nuevo, Calif.
155: #1 Dalia Garibay, RJr., Brentwood, Calif. or Celina Cooke, So., Sparks, Nev.
170: Melena Jones, RJr., Kansas City, Mo. or Caylee Collins, RJr., Burien, Wash.
191: #4 Jayleen Sekona, So., Anchorage, Alaska or Shandin Largo, RSo., Gallup, N.M.